A solid-state drive (SSD) is a data storage device that utilizes solid-state memory (e.g., flash-type “non-volatile” memory or synchronous dynamic access memory (SDRAM) “volatile” memory) to store persistent data. SSDs are an alternative to conventional hard disk drives that have slower data access times due to the mechanical moving parts. The absence of rotating disks and mechanical devices in the SSD generally improves data access speed and reliability.
Traditional hard disk drives have one or more platters that rotate about a spindle. Data are generally stored on the platters in concentric rings, often referred to as tracks or cylinders. The data of the tracks are generally further divided into sectors. Sectors usually represent fixed amounts of data, such as 512 bytes or 1024 bytes. Files are stored on hard drives in clusters, sometimes termed allocation units. These clusters span across several physical sectors, generally with a fixed number of sectors per cluster for a particular hard drive.
Platforms coupled with hard disk drives use a variety of different schemes to access data stored on the drives. Accessing data stored on a hard disk drive may comprise reading data from the drive or writing data to the drive. One scheme comprises accessing the data by using references to cylinders, heads, and sectors (CHS). Another scheme comprises accessing the data using logical block addresses (LBAs). For the purpose of backwards compatibility, SSDs often access data in the same manner as traditional hard disk drives. For example, a platform may access data for a SSD using logical block addressing.